Description

We’re very proud to offer this amazing premium-quality Mimosa hostilis root bark, sourced (through a trusted intermediary) from an anonymous farmer “somewhere in South America”! Based on the scant evidence we’ve dug up so far, we suspect this secret location to be somewhere in either Chile or Ecuador, but can’t confirm this as of writing. Needless to say, this bark – harvested in late summer 2018 – is yet another of our UK exclusives! This item currently ships from Spain.

Great for making soap and lotions and for organically dyeing cloth and other materials a beautiful deep purple colour, we also sell several other kinds of Mimosa hostilis root bark, each with its own unique qualities.

Recently officially renamed Mimosa tenuiflora, Mimosa hostilis is known around the world by many other titles, including ‘Black Jurema’, ‘Cabrera’, ‘Calumbi’, ‘Carbonal’, ‘Jurema’, ‘Jurema Preta’, ‘MHRB’, ‘Tepezcohuite’ and ‘Vinho de Jurema’. The plant grows as a perennial shrub or tree – most often at lower altitudes, but sometimes as high as 3,300 feet – and is native to Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama and Venezuela.

Mimosa hostilis bark is used traditionally in Mexico and South America to treat burns and wounds (topically), tooth pain, coughs and bronchitis (as an infusion) and as emergency ‘drought-fodder’ and parasite-preventative for livestock. The plant itself can also be used to fertilise and fix soil, with its dense wood being used for fuel, to make charcoal and to build things such as bridges, buildings, fences and furniture.

Moreover, Mimosa bark’s high tannin content makes it particularly suitable for both dyeing and leather production, while its high levels of saponins and lipids help to create the most decadently lush handmade soaps! Incidentally, if you’re one of the many folk using this professionally to dye fabrics such as cotton, we’ve recently discovered an interesting technical article from King Saud University’s Journal of Saudi Chemical Society; ‘Dyeing of white and indigo dyed cotton fabrics with Mimosa tenuiflora extract’, by Gökhan Erkan, Kemal Şengül and Sibel Kaya.

Dried root bark from a renewable South American source – Shipped from Spain – Very limited stocks